This term hailed the return of Channing’s Chamber Music Evening, a wonderful showcase of the school’s smaller ensembles across all age groups. We got off to a superb start with the solemn, ringing opening chords from Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary played by the Brass and Drum Consort. The unified brass sound of the ensemble was very impressive and the players played with absolutely flawless tuning throughout. Next we turned to Saint-Saens’ iconic French masterpiece ‘The Swan’ arranged for flute quartet and played by the Intermediate Flute Ensemble. The dulcet tones of the flute group complemented the flowing melodic lines, so much that I could almost imagine a swan gliding by, somewhere across the channel.

Moving back into the Baroque, we were treated to the first movement of Vivaldi’s concerto for violins, lute and continuo, led by Catherine S as the guitar soloist. She ran rings around a difficult guitar part, and the whole ensemble played with a lovely poise and clarity throughout. We then skipped forward in time to hear the Senior Flute Ensemble’s performance of Peacherine Rag, played with stylish cheekiness and rhythmical precision. All the players in the ensemble had their moments but the group communicated wonderfully throughout, especially in musical imitation and conversation. Next came the smallest of our groups that evening, Purcell’s ‘Sound the Trumpet’ for vocal duet. Bella K and Anna R-B sang with wonderful vocal agility and a clear appreciation of Purcell’s contrapuntal writing, and the joyous crescendo on each long ‘sound’ filled the space gloriously. Kezia C starred on clarinet in the Third Movement from Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio alongside Yutao W and Elizabeth S, which showcased Mozart’s writing at its sweet and elegant best. The purity and variety of tone quality of all the instrumentalists here is not something you can hear very often, and I for one would love to hear the whole trio in the future.

A performance of Martelli’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Humoresque’ was the first of 2 string quartets and here a particular word must go to Sophie L, who played the cello part warmly and assuredly in an arrangement which placed the instrument front and centre. The ensemble played with real rhythmic bite in the Humoresque patterns whilst maintaining Tchaikovsky’s native Russian charm in a graceful performance of the classic. Our second string quartet expressively played J Long’s arrangement of Mancini’s ‘Moon River’, and here the violin playing of Thea I and Yasmin L did sound remarkably like a vocal line, bringing out the wanderlust in Mancini’s writing.

Our night ended on a stunning high, with the first movement of Mendelssohn String Octet in Eb; one of the mainstays of the string chamber music repertoire. Elizabeth S was at her virtuosic best, leading the ensemble with Romantic energy and gusto in a fabulous performance of the work in all aspects. There was a notable transparency and lilt to all of the contrasting lines, and communication and rhythmic ensemble was very impressive, especially in such a difficult work. This and the whole concert demonstrated Channing’s musical talent at its very best, both in virtuosic brilliance and in focus on teamwork and communication in everything they do. Thank you very much for a lovely evening of really top-quality music making. BRAVA. Do watch a video of the performance HERE.